Mel,
I didn't have a choice of kernel, either. What I meant by non-PAE was that I set the VM up that way. Maybe it would be easier if I just detail the steps.
(a) Create the VM.
(b) In the System section, Motherboard tab, disable all the extended features,
especially the absolute pointing device.
(c) In the System section, Processor tab, I unchecked Enable PAE/NX. I only assigned 512MB of RAM, so I don't need PAE.
(d) Display section, Video tab, I assigned 64MB of video RAM. You can probably get by with 32MB.
(e) In the Storage section, I assigned 12GB for the HD size. (8GB is the default.) If you use a dynamically sized HD (the default), the size will only be as large as is needed, anyway.
(f) Network is attached to network address translation.
That's about it. I booted from the iso, chose locale and keyboard, and chose to install updates during the installation. At the end, where all your choices of timezone, bootloader, screen size, etc. are shown, check them if you have any doubts.